UK firm CEO among Australia seaplane crash victims

A high-profile British CEO and his family were among six people killed in a New Year’s Eve seaplane crash in Australia

The bodies of all on board — one pilot and five passengers — were recovered, with Richard Cousins, chief executive of British catering giant Compass, identified as among the deceased.

Sydney: A high-profile British CEO and his family were among six people killed in a New Year’s Eve seaplane crash in Australia, police said on Monday.

The plane went down Sunday in the Hawkesbury River near the suburb of Cowan some 50 km north of Sydney, as New Year’s revellers on the banks watched in shock.

The bodies of all on board — one pilot and five passengers — were recovered, with Richard Cousins, chief executive of British catering giant Compass, identified as among the deceased.

Cousins’ two sons in their early 20s and his fiancee and her 11-year-old daughter were also killed. Cousins, who was named recently by Harvard Business Review as one of the world’s best-performing CEOs, was due to step down.